The urgent need for integrated science to fight COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become the leading societal concern. The pandemic has shown that the public health concern is not only a medical problem, but also affects society as a whole; so, it has also become the leading scientific concern. We discuss in this treatise the importance of bringing the world's scientists together to find effective solutions for controlling the pandemic. By applying novel research frameworks, interdisciplinary collaboration promises to manage the pandemic's consequences and prevent recurrences of similar pandemics.

Rapid and Low-Cost Culture-Based Method for Diagnosis of Mucormycosis Using a Mouse Model.

Prompt and targeted antifungal treatment has a positive impact on the clinical outcome of mucormycosis; however, current diagnostic tools used in histopathology laboratories often fail to provide rapid results. Rapid culture-based strategies for early diagnosis of Mucorales infections, which may influence treatment decisions, are urgently needed. Herein, we evaluated a microculture assay for the early diagnosis of mucormycosis in an immunocompetent murine model of disseminated infection, by comparing it with traditional diagnostic methods. The assay specificity was assessed using blood (n = 90) and tissue (n = 90) specimens obtained from mice infected with Rhizopus arrhizus using different inoculum sizes [1 × 104, 1 × 105, and 1 × 106 colony forming units (CFUs)/mouse] and blood (n = 15) and tissue specimens (n = 15) from uninfected mice. Surprisingly, 26 of 90 (28.9%) blood samples revealed positive results by microculture, whereas all blood samples were negative when assayed by conventional culture. The overall positive conventional culture rate for the mouse tissue (kidney) samples was 31.1% (28/90). The calculated sensitivity for kidney microculture was 98.8% [95% confidence interval (CI) 96.6-100], with an assay specificity of 100%. Hence, the microculture assay may be useful for rapid culturing and diagnosis of mucormycosis caused by R. arrhizus directly in blood and tissue samples. Hence, this method may allow for the timely administration of an appropriate treatment.

A simple and low cost tetra-primer ARMS-PCR method for detection triazole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus.

The mutation at codon L98 accompanied by a tandem repeat of 34 base pairs (TR34/L98H) in the 5´upstream region of cyp51A is the principal mechanism of triazole resistance of Aspergillus fumigatus. We aimed to evaluate a simple and low-cost tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS)-PCR technique for detection of TR34/L98H mutations in the cyp51A gene of azole-resistant A. fumigatus. The tetra-primer ARMS-PCR assay optimized by four primers in one reaction consists of external primers for detection of tandem repeats in the promoter region and internal primers for detection of a point mutation in codon 98 (L98H) in the cyp51A gene of azole-resistant A. fumigatus. The specificity of TR34/L98H mutation detection was assessed by testing 36 clinical and environmental A. fumigatus strains. The tetra-primer ARMS-PCR assay from A. fumigatus, containing wild-type sequence (T allele) and L98H mutation at cyp51A (A allele), yielded two DNA fragments of 908 bp and 740 bp and two of 942 bp and 212 bp, respectively. None of the A. fumigatus isolates without the TR34/L98H mutation yielded false-positive results. The ARMS-PCR assay was 100% concordant with DNA sequencing results. Prevalence and screening of the TR34/L98H mutation in the cyp51A gene in A. fumigatus isolates may now be determined by a fast, low-cost, and simple method in resource-poor settings.

Low-Cost Tetraplex PCR for the Global Spreading Multi-Drug Resistant Fungus, Candida auris and Its Phylogenetic Relatives.

Candida auris, C. haemulonii, C. duobushaemulonii, and C. pseudohaemulonii are closely related and highly multidrug resistant yeast pathogens. The high cost and low accuracy of current diagnostics may underestimate their prevalence, especially in medical resource-limited regions. In this study, we used 172 C. auris stains and its relatives and 192 other fungal strains to establish and validate a novel multiplex end-point PCR. A prospective and a retrospective clinical screenings using this assay were further performed in China and Iran respectively. We identified the first isolate of C. pseudohaemulonii in China and the first isolate of C. haemulonii in Iran from 821 clinical isolates in total, without any false positive. Animal models of C. auris and C. haemulonii were established for validation. The overall positive rates of the assay for mice blood and tissue were 28.6 and 92.9%, respectively. Compared with previously developed assays, our assay is more available and affordable to the developing countries, and may contribute to a better understanding of the epidemiology of C. auris and its relatives in these regions.